Keeping pests out of your garden can be a real challenge for any gardener. But for those committed to natural methods and organic gardening, it can seem even more difficult. But don’t worry, as there are actually a lot of things you can do to keep bad bugs away without polluting your garden. Here are five of them.

Grow Herbs That Repel Pests

Frequent HGTV contributor Meagan Francis offers this tip. “Many aromatic herbs, like yarrow, citronella, mint, fennel, catnip, basil, and lemongrass are natural deterrents for garden pests from aphids to potato beetles.” Scattering these and other plants strategically throughout your garden can greatly improve the chances of pests leaving your garden alone. Not only that, but who doesn’t love having fresh herbs from the garden to add to their favorite recipes?

Use Essential Oils

As discussed already, Planting aromatic herbs in your garden can repel some kinds of pests. Thankfully, you can still benefit from these plants without actually growing them in your garden. You can do this by using essential oils such as lemongrass, peppermint, cedarwood, rosemary, and spearmint oil.

A few drops of these lovely extracts strategically placed around your garden plants can keep some types of pests away for days or even weeks. The length of how effect it is depends on how often you need to water your garden and on where you place those drops. Placing them in dry spots around your plants might help them last a bit longer.

Attract Pest-Eating Animals

Frogs, toads, lizards, birds and even cats are known to munch on many of the pests that threaten your garden. The trick is to only attract the predators you want, such as toads and lizards, without attracting the predators that you don’t want, which would include the birds and cats.

While birds and cats might be a lot more fun to look at – and cuddle – they might end up causing just as much damage to your garden as the bugs! Make sure to keep lots of loose, moist soil around for toads to settle into. Lizards will enjoy some rock walls and large rocks in sunny areas of the garden upon which to warm themselves.

Attract Pest-Eating Insects

There are also several varieties of insects that prey on other insects. These could also do an excellent job of guarding your flowers and veggies against pests. Spiders, ladybugs, and wasps are known to eat other bugs like aphids and caterpillars, so be sure to leave those spider webs intact whenever you come across them in the garden. You can make sure to keep lots of pollen and nectar generators in your garden as this will attract many insects that eat common garden pests. You could also make sure there is enough water that it can form small pools, which will keep the predatory pests well hydrated and ready to remove any harmful pests.

Sprinkle Crushed Egg Shells

One more tip is to sprinkle crushed egg shells along the surface of your garden soil. Slugs and snails will avoid their sharp, jagged edges as they slither along the ground, so including these around your perimeter could convince those slimy pests to look for more friendly terrain.

Protecting your garden from pests without resorting to harsh chemicals and pollutants is possible even if it doesn’t feel like it. Just follow these five organic gardening tips to keep your flowers, veggies, herbs, and fruits safe from pests.

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